Toronto joins StartUp Canada family

Toronto is set to become the 20th StartUp Community following a grassroots initiative to join the flagship national program of StartUp Canada. In a meeting earlier this month, backers lined up volunteers prior an official launch of the chapter this May, opening access for entrepreneurs to a host of mentoring, networking, incubation and outreach activities provided by the national organization.

The founding sponsor of StartUp Toronto is Telus Corp.

"It puts entrepreneurs in the driver's seat to build from the ground up without taxpayer dollars," says StartUp Canada co-founder and CEO Victoria Lennox. "They will help to celebrate Toronto and identify gaps where they will target their efforts."

StartUp Communities launched last year as a pilot in 17 communities across Canada (see chart), and the program has been particularly successful in smaller centres.

"They must be organically driven. We're here as a resource," says Lennox. "Smaller communities don't have the resources that big cities do so we provide them with resources to help connect entrepreneurs to customers. There are currently more than 2,300 volunteers and 400 partners engaged with StartUp Communities, with the oldest being Edmonton .

Five more communities are currently applying to the program: Vancouver, Peterborough, Barrie ON, Regina and Kamloops.

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